Delivering a green future for the chemicals industry

|20 June 2016|

France/Germany

Global Bioenergies is building a new demo plant in Germany which will produce the basic raw materials needed for the chemical industry from the renewables chain rather than from oil and its bi-products.

Since 2008, Global Bioenergies has been developing a process to produce isobutene from renewable resources (residual sugar, agricultural and forestry waste). This innovative process will reduce the carbon dioxide footprint for isobutene manufacture. This platform molecule can be converted into gasoline, rubber and various other materials, and can be used in various applications by the chemical and cosmetics industries. Fifteen million tonnes of isobutene are produced every year from fossil resources.

And Global Bioenergies,IBN-One, Cristal Union and L’Oréal are now collaborating on a 44-month industrial and commercial project – backed by €9 million of French Government funding – which will lead to the creation of the first commercial plant producing bio-sourced isobutene worldwide.

Frédéric Pâques, Chief Operations Officer of Global Bioenergies, said: “We would like to thank the French state, who has supported us ever since the Isobutene programme was launched. The process is now entering a new phase of development: step by step, we are leading up to our targeted performance, and we are getting ready to run the process in our demo plant, whose construction in Germany will be completed within the next few months.”

Laurent Gilbert, Sustainable Innovation Director at L’Oréal, added: “Isobutene is a molecule whose derivatives are widely used in cosmetics. Accessing sustainable, bio-sourced products is in line with our commitments towards protecting the environment.”